by BY STEVEN LIBOWITZ , Montecito Journal Friendship Center serves an often overlooked, but much-needed niche for the aging adult community — providing a daytime home away from home where the dependent seniors can take advantage of companionship and engaging activities. They also receive necessary supervision while their family caregivers receive respite and a much-needed break from the demands of…
Friendship Center is proud to announce it was awarded “Caregiver of the Year” for a facility by the Central Coast Commission for Senior Citizens Area Agency on Aging in honor of Older Americans Month. “Friendship Center has been very successful in providing live virtual classes five days a week,” writes Sue Larsen of Gulley and Larsen Insurance Services, who…
As the State of California inches toward a comprehensive reopening plan, Friendship Center members and caregivers will be heartened to know that our own reopening plan has been in the works for months. The new hybrid plan incorporates both onsite and Zoom activities as it transitions toward fully re-opening. “We’re pleased to announce that our plan has been approved…
It all started with a small thing in the early 1970s when Cynder Sinclair was helping in her son’s classroom. “I noticed some of the kids were not dressed warmly enough for the weather,” she says. Cynder was living with her husband and five children in the small farming community of Kingsburg, where it gets cold in the off season…
March 2021 marked the one-year anniversary of California’s shelter-in-place orders. While many, clearing the shelves of toilet paper, anticipated an inexplicable increase in bathroom visits, others assured themselves everything would go back to normal in six weeks. No one yet grasped that March 14, 2020 was to begin a full year of masks, social distancing, loneliness and all the…
By Laurie Mason Programs & Communications Coordinator Everyone calls Robert Antonini “Sir Robert,” a moniker he gave himself. “It’s because I’m above and beyond the ordinary,” he jokes, but his self-deprecating manner suggests he doesn’t really believe that. Yet it’s true. At 94, Sir Robert is fit, sharp and always quick with a witty retort. Someone says, “You made…
By Laurie Mason Programs & Communications Coordinator Friendship Center knows Carol Metcalf for the time she volunteers running a Veteran’s Support Group. What members might not know is that Carol, in addition to being a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and adjunct professor at Antioch University, is a SAG actor, comedian and documentary filmmaker. Her award-winning documentary “It Only…
By Laurie Mason Programs & Communications Coordinator Gerrie Shapiro has trained dogs for a long time—long enough now that she has the luxury of being choosy about whom she works with. “I’m getting kind of picky about the clients I take,” she chuckles. “I’ve been bitten enough!” Gerrie is a familiar face at Friendship Center, where she often visits…
This year Friendship Center’s biggest annual fundraiser, Festival of Hearts, has gone virtual, and it’s live now! You have until February 6 to bid on a beautiful original artist’s heart, Valentine’s Day basket—did somebody say wine and cupcakes?—or unique experience. In so doing, you help us continue supporting isolated older adults with financial need. Covid 19 negatively impacts all our…
By Laurie Mason Programs & Communications Coordinator Every organization needs an Esther Kratz, Friendship Center Goleta’s program site manager. Here’s a story that shows why. A few years back, Friendship Center threw an Oktoberfest, bringing together members from both the Goleta and Santa Barbara sites. The event included a feast, dancing and best of all, the nostalgic tunes of…